Bridge named for hero N.Y. Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter

[thedrifter]

Bridge named for hero N.Y. Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter

BY DEBBIE TUMA AND TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Sunday, November 16th 2008, 4:00 AM

A 19-year-old Marine killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq was honored yesterday at a Long Island bridge-renaming ceremony attended by comrades whose lives were saved by his heroic act.

"There was nothing my son loved more than spending time here at the harbor, on this wharf," Christian Haerter told the crowd gathered to remember his son in Sag Harbor.

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter trained Iraqi police in the terrorist hotbed of Ramadi and was killed April 22 when a bomber in a truck attacked a security checkpoint.

More than 1,000 people endured heavy rain to line the flag-draped Sag Harbor-North Haven Bridge as it was renamed the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge.

A U.S. Marine helicopter hovered overhead, and 40 of Haerter's fellow 1st Battalion, 9th Marine comrades, stood at attention.

Many in the battalion - known as The Walking Dead - called him a hero.

Lt. Col. Brett Bourne said Haerter and another Marine opened fire on the truck before the 2,000-pound bomb killed them.

"If they hadn't stopped this suicide bomber truck, it could have exploded inside the compound, killing 33 Marines and 21 Iraqi police inside," he said.

"We flew here from all over the country to pay tribute to our friend Jordan, who risked his life to save us," said Joshua Pitts, who came from his home in Oakdale, Tenn. "We wouldn't be here without him."

Haerter's mother, JoAnn Lyles, said she received a letter from her son the day before he died in which he said he was confident he had made the right choice and only worried about her.

"I am now a gold star mother, which is not a club anyone wants to join," she said, choking back tears as she spoke of her only child. "But the support of this close-knit community keeps me going."

His grandfather, John Lyles, of South Carolina, said Haerter's long-term goal was to join the Sag Harbor Police Department.

He enlisted in the military right out of high school in 2006 and was only in Iraq a month when he was killed.

"He never had a chance to live that dream," Lyles said. "But now he will never be forgotten in his hometown of Sag Harbor." tmoore@nydailynews.com

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Newsday.com
Sag Harbor memorializes Marine Jordan Haerter

BY CHRISTINA HERNANDEZ

christina.hernandez@newsday.com

November 16, 2008


They marched down Main Street toward Long Wharf in Sag Harbor like so many soldiers on a mission to memorialize one of their own.

Hundreds of locals and dozens of veterans took to the streets yesterday to remember Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, just as they had in April when the body of their fallen Marine traveled home after his death in Iraq at age 19.

As rain clouded their already misty eyes, residents watched Haerter's tearful parents unveil a memorial to him, and the Sag Harbor-North Haven Bridge renamed the Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Christian Haerter, who wore his son's dog tags, said the event was as much a "celebration of the spirit of the community that molded" Jordan as it was a memorial to a man and a Marine.

The monument, organizers said, is made of red granite to symbolize the signature colors of the Marines and of Pierson High School, from which Jordan Haerter graduated in 2006. Overlooking Sag Harbor Bay, the memorial sits on the spot Haerter would go to dream about his future. His family has said he planned to become a Sag Harbor police officer.

"The love and support from Sag Harbor is immeasurable," said Joann Lyles, Jordan's mother. "You are captured in a Norman Rockwell painting."

Attention shifted to the bridge, which was renamed by a state mandate. As Haerter's comrades from the North Carolina-based 1st Battalion, 9th Marines cut a red ribbon opening the renamed bridge, a green Vietnam-era helicopter hovered above.

The restored chopper is now a "traveling memorial," said Alan Weiss, the Cutchogue veteran who rebuilt it. Because of the bad weather, the aircraft almost didn't fly, Weiss said. He and other volunteers missed breakfast with the visiting Marines yesterday morning while waiting hours for fog to pass so they could make their special appearance.

"It's an honor for us," Weiss said. "It's an emotional thing for me because he's a former Marine and he's local."

Haerter died April 22 in a suicide attack in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi. With another soldier, Haerter shot at the driver of a truck filled with explosives that had failed to stop at a checkpoint, officials said. For his actions, which officials said saved the lives of dozens of Marines and Iraq police, Haerter was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and other distinctions.

Lt. Col. Brett Bourne, the unit's commanding officer, said he was overwhelmed by the support from Sag Harbor residents after Haerter's death, the battalion's first combat casualty since the Vietnam War.

In an interview, Bourne said because his family moves often, it was important for him to bring his young children to yesterday's event to show them the meaning of community.

"This is clearly a special place, a place that represents the best in America," he said.


Ellie